Comedian John Bishop’s new documentary about learning BSL

A new ITV documentary will see comedian John Bishop and his son learn more about deafness together as John undertakes his latest comedy challenge.

John has set himself the target of delivering an entire signed stand-up comedy gig to a deaf audience, headlining a night of British Sign Language comedy.

Who is John Bishop?

John Bishop is a 55 year old comedian from Liverpool known for his stand-up shows and regular appearances on British panel shows such as Mock The Week, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Have I Got News for You.

John studied Social Science at Manchester Polytechnic and worked as a medical representative at Syntex before leaving the job to pursue a career in comedy at the age of 40.

His son Joe has an autoimmune condition that causes progressive deafness and he is now partially deaf and is likely to become fully deaf in later life. He contracted a virus that caused the condition and caused him to lose most of his hearing when he was just 15 years old.

John spent more than 10 years trying to fix his son’s hearing but the family have come to the realisation that this may not be possible.

This moving documentary follows John and Joe’s journey into the deaf community and unpacks the issues the family have faced.

Learning BSL

After months of preparations learning BSL, John will deliver his new set to a deaf audience.

It’s a huge task, but John isn’t a stranger to challenges. In 1992, long before he was famous, John raised £30,000 for the NSPCC by cycling from Australia back home to Liverpool.

In 2012, he cycled from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to Trafalgar Square, London over five days, raising more than £4 million for Sport Relief.

Whatever happens with his latest challenge John and Joe will be highlighting the everyday problems faced by Deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK.

John says: “Before we started this journey, we could never have imagined what an impact it would have on us as a family. Joe and I are so grateful to the members of the deaf community who we’ve met this year, their generosity has changed our lives.”

The one-off special documentary will air on ITV on Thursday 22 September at 9pm. The episode will be available to watch on the ITV Hub shortly after it is first broadcast.